Come What May
by MelonRinds
Summary: “Arnold, you worry too much,” Wanda says with a smile. “That’s why I’m with you,” Arnold replies. A New Years Eve A/W oneshot.


**So this is a little oneshot that I started writing on New Years (festivities always make me think I have to come up with some fic to celebrate), but obviously took awhile to finish. I finally managed to type up an Arnold/Wanda story that didn't involve little vignettes! Yay! I was just recently looking back on it and had some inspiration to finish it, which is nice, because inspiration can be rare.**

**So as I've just mentioned, this is an Arnold/Wanda story, so if you don't like the couple, just be warned: this is fluff. **

**So anyways, enough rambling and on with the oneshot!**

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"Do you realise that tonight might have been the last New Years party we'll ever have all together?"

A very chilly Arnold Perlstein posed the question to his girlfriend of one year as the two of them walked side by side, hand in hand, down the icy road leading down from a house full of inebriated seniors. The drunken laughs and screams grew fainter and fainter as the couple made their way past the house's garden hedges and onto the sidewalk by the main street below.

The winter night was clear; the full moon was shining brightly in the sky and reflecting off of his girlfriend's long dark hair. The street lamps above illuminated her face even more so it was easy to see her expressions. He saw Wanda frown at him.

"They'll be plenty of other parties, Arnold," she said, looking at him as though she was worrying about his sanity. Her breath came out in white clouds as she spoke and faded into the icy night air soon after it appeared. "I mean there's spring break, prom..."

"No, well, I know that - I mean, the last year we'll all end up together at the end of a year, celebrating - you know - I mean with Keesha, DA... The gang..." Arnold exhaled heavily after he spoke, images from the party replaying in his head. The familiar laughs still buzzed in his ears and the clock above the piano was vivid in his memory. He could still remember the tense feeling in his chest as he watched the second hand tick towards the twelve; it was a new year, and time was flying far faster than he would have liked.

"You think so?" Wanda stopped walking so that she could look up properly at her boyfriend. He was forced to follow suit, as his hand was still holding hers.

"Well... it's only natural, isn't it?" Arnold said, feeling her warm glove suddenly leave his grasp and she started to fiddle with the end of his knitted scarf. "We're all going to go to different universities - I think Keesha wants to go abroad, Tim's thinking of going to New York... Who knows where we're all going to be next winter..." he trailed off, the sinking feeling in his stomach that had first appeared at the start of Ralphie's party had now returned.

There was silence between the couple for a few seconds where Arnold found himself trying to force any depressing thoughts out of his head by concentrating on nothing but the feel of her hands against his chest as they played with the frayed end of his scarf. He closed his eyes: the the tiny fingers stopped and climbed up the length of the scarf until Wanda grasped the wool and pulled his head down level to hers. She kissed him with cold lips.

"Always the pessimist, aren't you?" she said as they pulled back, letting him straighten back up to full height, which was about a head taller than herself, and then another inch or so of curly orange locks. Arnold resisted the urge to retort at her comment which he felt was a bit unfair, and just folded his arms across his chest, waiting for her to continue. He saw her smirk at his expression.

"First of all," and she held up one finger from a balled fist, "we definitely have the rest of senior year together with Ralphie, Keesha, Carlos, DA, Phoebe, and Tim, so why are you worrying about it now?" She help up another finger, "Second, you've known Ralphie, Keesha, Carlos, DA, Phoebe, and Tim since at least grade three and you haven't managed to get rid of them yet. What makes you think you can do it next year?" She took a breath. "And third," Wanda dropped her hand and took a hold of Arnold's scarf again, pulling his body back towards hers so that their hips collided. Arnold instinctively placed his hands on her small waist. "I though I was the only one you needed in order to stay in a state of complete and utter bliss." She grinned at him teasingly and Arnold let out a little chuckle before letting her kiss him again.

"Okay," said Arnold, "One," he removed one hand from her hips to hold up one finger in front of her pink nose, "True, but I might as well worry now and let it sink in, instead of realising it all on the day of graduation and turning into a blubbering mess, right?"

Wanda laughed. "You do care about us all too much."

Arnold grinned, knowing full well Wanda was probably the most likely of the gang to burst into tears on graduation.

"Two," he continued, "because the move from Walkerville elementary to Walkerville Secondary isn't as big as the one from Walkerville Secondary to Universities. I mean, Carlos and DA are planning to move halfway across the world together to study!" He sighed and then looked down into those brown eyes, trying to feel hope, "And three - does that mean you'll stay with me no matter what happens?"

Wanda reached out and grabbed the hand that had left her waist, now holding up three fingers for the three points just addressed, and placed it back in its rightful position. "We've been attached by the hip since kindergarten," she answered with a little grin, "Lately, pretty literally," and she grinded up against him slightly to prove her point. "What makes you think I'd leave you now?"

Though her voice was light, and she was teasing, Arnold felt his stomach tighten at her words. They had finally started the topic Arnold had been desperate to address. Also the one he had been dreading most.

"I'm serious," he said quickly, stepping back and avoiding her eyes, ones that he had memorized since grade three anyway. Cocoa brown and shaped like thin almonds. "You want to go to that flight school don't you?"

"Might," Wanda interrupted quickly. "_Might_ want to. I haven't decided yet."

"Okay, well, _if_ you do, then - then..." he didn't how to finish. He then chose to dare a glance back into her eyes. They had lost the amusement they had been sparkling with just a few moments earlier. Now they were piercing, staring into his blue ones past the lenses of his glasses. She opened her mouth; Arnold braced himself.

But she didn't say anything.

He felt the cold fabric of her course gloves enclose around his hand instead, and then felt a tug. Without another word, the two started walking again, moving along the snow dusted street in silence. Arnold wondered where Wanda was taking him (they had already passed the turn to his house), or whether or not she even knew herself. It was just when he had opened his mouth to ask, that they stopped at the entrance of the old playground. He felt Wanda let go of his hand.

He black hair flew behind her as she ran ahead, towards the teeter totter in the centre of the sand pit. When she reached it, she turned back to him, a sneaky little smile on her face, and then he knew why she had brought him here.

"It's where - " she started.

"We met," he finished. He broke into a run towards her. The ground was slippery however, and he fell before he got half way.

His ears burning with embarrassment, he heard her laugh and then heard the soft crunch of boots on snow as she approached.

"I'm glad to see you remembered how we first met too," she grinned.

Arnold let out a forced laugh as he pulled himself off the ground. "The ground wasn't so cold though," he said.

"Well yeah," Wanda said, wrapping her arms around herself and shivering. "It was in the middle of summer."

"Summer before kindergarten..." Arnold reminisced. He remembered it surprisingly well. He had been five years old and had just gotten his glasses. His great aunt had taken him to the park to play one sunny afternoon. Instead of joining the other kids on the jungle gym or teeter totter, Arnold had amused himself by getting on his hands and knees and digging through the dirt for rocks.

"You pushed me onto the ground," Arnold said suddenly.

"You fell!" Wanda said, defending herself.

"No, I mean - not now - when we met. I had just gotten up from the ground to look at some rock I found and then you crashed into me from - " Arnold laughed happily in memory as he spotted it. "From out of this bush!"

He heard Wanda squeal excitedly beside him. "Oh right! I was with Ralphie, I remember that too. He was chasing me! I was going through the bushes and brambles to try to throw him off!"

"And then you crashed into me..." Arnold said. "I lost the rock in my hand you know. I really liked that rock..."

"Well I was pretty mad at you for getting in the way and ruining my fun," Wanda said, smiling.

"I was pretty mad at you for making me lose my rock."

Wanda sat down on the edge of the merry-go-round and patted the spot next to her for him. He joined her, now beginning to wonder why exactly she had brought him here, and why she had avoided his question about what would happen to the two of them after graduation.

"Who would have thought we'd end up best friends for so long?" Wanda asked, leaning against his shoulder.

"Not me," Arnold had to reply truthfully.

"Nor me. I thought you were a wuss"

"Hey! Well, I thought you were annoying and loud."

"I thought you were a push over."

"I thought you were bossy."

"I thought your glasses made you look really nerdy," Wanda removed her head off of his shoulder. "But now I've come to the conclusion that they're actually devilishly sexy. If you get contacts - I'm leaving you."

Arnold laughed.

"And you're definitely not a wuss," Wanda continued.

"Don't you mean a _weasly wimp_."

"Ew!" Wanda wrinkled her nose as she remembered her old expression, "Not that either." She smiled. Then suddenly her expression changed, and her face became very serious. "Arnold..."

"Yeah?"

"Arnold, I'm still loud." She sat up straighter. "And I'm still bossy."

Arnold shifted in his seat a little. "I know," he said. "And I still worry too much."

There was another pause of silence. Light, but very cold, gusts of wind were blowing across the playground. Arnold felt it nipping at his ears and he felt Wanda bury herself deeper into his side.

"Yeah," Wanda said finally. "Yeah, you do."

And before Arnold had any sort of chance to respond, he got a mouthful of snow smashed into his face.

"W - Wanda!" he spluttered.

"That's why you're dating me," she laughed, bending down to pick up another handful of snow. Arnold ducked and managed to avoid the next one before he bent down to make one of his own.

"Hey! Get back here!" And he started laughing and running and slipping through the snow towards Wanda, who was stumbling through the snow, grabbing fistfulls of the white frost for another snowball while trying to avoid Arnold.

Though Wanda was small, she happened to be a pretty good sprinter, even in slippery conditions. It was only after the third time Arnold had picked himself off of the ground and then took one long sprint down the baseball field that he finally managed to get close enough to launch his snowball at her.

It missed by about two feet and Wanda took advantage of his embarrassment by throwing another of her own into his face. It exploded all over his front.

An orange curl dripping in front of his glasses, his mouth full of wet snow and dirt, Arnold scooped up a loose pile of snow and hurtled towards Wanda, who was laughing too hard to notice. She shrieked as he stuffed the cold snow down her back.

Arnold's excitement at having finally gotten her faded after a second when he saw the expression on her face, and wondered if he had gone too far. But then he saw her laugh and began to laugh himself until they were both lying on the ground, rolling with mirth.

Five minutes later, both had calmed down considerably and were gasping for air. Their blood was cooling down after their sprints and Arnold noticed that Wanda had started shivering again next to him.

"Now.." he heard her say. "What were we talking about again?"

Arnold didn't answer immediately; he listened to their now calm breathing again, feeling the cold, wet snow melt in his hair as he lay on his back. What he had completely forgotten the second the snowball had hit him in the face was coming back to him: he had been worrying about graduation, about them never seeing their best friends again, about never seeing her again... The euphoria of the snowball fight vanished almost as quickly as it came and now his stomach filled with the same knots he had been suffering from earlier. She had never answered his question.

"What if - " he started, "What if - due to circumstance - after graduation, we'll end up half way across the country from each other." He sat up. "What if we have to leave each other because I want to travel abroad and you want to attend school in - in Texas or London or - somewhere else far away."

"Then you go travel abroad and I got to school," said Wanda matter-of-factly. "Look Arnold, I love you. You've been my best friend since kindergarten. We're not going to split apart because of some stupid little thing like graduation."

"But how do you - ?"

"I just know," Wanda shifted in the snow so that she could face him. "Stop worrying. I'll make it happen."

Arnold sighed, all too familiar with the feeling that she never seemed to worry enough. But he finally said, "I'll hold you to that promise."

"Now who's being bossy," Wanda turned her head and grinned slyly at him. Arnold grinned back.

So," he heard her say after a moment's silence. "Are your parents home?"

Arnold shook his head. "No, they're at a friend's party."

Wanda smiled. "Take me there before I freeze my ass off."

xxx

Fifteen minutes later, Wanda and Arnold were sitting in Arnold's kitchen, warming their hands over some home made hot chocolate. Arnold had changed out of his wet clothes into a pair of dry, striped pyjama bottoms and an old T-shirt Wanda had given him a few years back saying, "Geologists make the bed rock." Wanda, who had had nothing of hers to change into (except an old bra they had just found underneath Arnold's bed), had put on one of Arnold's T-shirts. Because she was so small, the shirt went all the way down to her knees; Arnold wasn't sure if she had put on the boxers he had offered. He was determined to find out before the night ended.

"How come you only gave me a marshmallow?"

Arnold glanced up from the rim of his hot chocolate mug, his glasses fogging up from the heat. "What? B-Because - "

"You're sweet Arnold, but I know you love them way more than me," Wanda said, sliding her mug towards him. Arnold opened his mouth to protest, but his eyes found the sweet marshmallow floating on the hot chocolate and felt his mouth water. Wanda had already taken his cup and was looking at him sternly, insisting he take hers.

Arnold shrugged, "Fine.. If you insist.." And he picked up the mug and took a long sip.

"Ahem."

Arnold looked up, the marshmallow half way past his teeth.

"Now you thank me for being such a sweet and excellent girlfriend," Wanda said, smiling. "And that this time you benefitted from my bossiness."

"Fanks," Arnold choked and swallowed the marshmallow, spluttering. "I m-mean thanks."

They sat at the table in silence now; the only sound in the little kitchen was the occasional slurping whenever Arnold or Wanda took a drink from their mugs. Arnold watched Wanda lovingly across the table and she pretended not to notice, flipping her hair back and licking hot chocolate off her lip seductively as if she was just innocently acting sexy and could not see his eyes watching her.

It hadn't seemed a big deal to her, but the marshmallow meant more to him than she could have ever imagined. Gone were the days when she would demand him for those little comforts like the last seat on the sofa, or the last slice of pizza. All those years they'd been friends, how often he'd felt like her puppet, too scared to say anything, to stand up for himself... How being so completely head over heels for her for as long as he could remember had alarmed him so much.

"Arnold," Wanda finally said, breaking the comfortable silence.

"Yeah?"

The chair squeaked as she stood up, holding out a small hand for him to take. Arnold stood up and took it, squeezing it tightly. She turned around without a word, still keeping hold of his hand, and started walking towards the living room.

They sat in the sofa in front of the unlit fireplace. Wanda drew her feet up and underneath herself and Arnold settled himself in between the cushions comfortably. Before he knew it, she was kissing him. Kissing him softly and sweetly in an almost unfamiliar way. He shivered as he felt her tongue graze the bottom of his lip and wrapped his arms around her, holding her close, never wanting to let go. Then she pulled back.

"I'm going to hold my promise," she said quietly.

He looked at her for a moment with unblinking eyes. There was no trace of amusement in her face. Her brown eyes were looking directly into his blue ones and he knew that he completely trusted her. "I know."

She sighed and threw her arms around his waist, burying her head in his chest as she did so. Arms having never left her, Arnold only tightened his hold.

"Out of everyone I've known, out of every relationship I've ever had with anyone, out of every friend, you're the only one who never gave up on me."

Arnold rubbed her back slowly, swallowing. Wanda pulled her head back up from his chest, back level with his eyes.

"I know I've been a jerk in the past - selfish, self centred - "

"Wanda - "

"Let me finish!" she snapped. Then sighed, "Impatient... Why did you stay with me?"

Arnold felt a little surprised at the question. "Because - because - you're _not_. I - I mean. Okay, you were, sometimes you could be - But - because I knew you were a good person overall." Arnold sighed at her unconvinced expression and continued.

"You care more about your friends than anything else in the world," he reminded her smiling. "I'll never forget you giving up your ticket to the Nutcracker so that you could see me for Hanukkah. You're strong and independent and you helped me become who I am today. You helped me learn how to stand up for myself. You're funny - you can always make me laugh and forget about what's troubling me - even if it means me getting a snowball shoved in my face - "

The living room was suddenly filled with Wanda's laughter, which made Arnold chuckle himself.

"And I always liked your sentimental side - that side you never liked to admit you had when you were a kid. You're sweeter than you think, you know."

"Never as sweet as you," Wanda said. "I think I almost gagged with that sappy dialogue."

Arnold laughed. "Fine, should we just go back to making out passionately?"

Wanda nodded, smiling. "You know Wanda doesn't have time for romantic shit. So strip and get naked."

"Well, okay, but you're being bossy again."

Wanda sighed. "When are you going to learn that you only benefit from my bossiness now? And bossy people need love too," she pouted.

"Agreed," Arnold said, eagerly dipping for her lips. He kissed her hard, and she inhaled sharply through her nose and pulled herself closer to him, her body pressed up against his, her hands first gripping him tightly on the shoulders, then sliding further and further down his body, making him shiver.

"Did you really we would drift apart after graduation," Wanda asked, taking her lips off his for a second, and shaking her head at him pityingly. "After all we've been through?"

Arnold's next words caught in his throat. "W - well you never - you never know - "

"Arnold, you worry too much," Wanda said with a smile.

"That's why I'm with you."

And her lips were back on his, more fierce this time, and her hands resumed their exploring while he took to opportunity to do some venturing himself.

She was the only thing he could feel. Her warmth, her passion, the icy trails her hands left on his body... It was her he needed for the rest of his life. Her presense, her care... He knew how deep her love ran, how deep her love for anyone she cared about ran.

Her laughter, the way she made him laugh, made him forget all his worries so often, tonight... She was the life he needed. He held her tight, and knew that this was it for him. There wasn't anyone else in the world who would ever fit in his arms so perfectly, or anyone who would ever fit in his life so perfectly.

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**I warned you it was going to be fluffy :p **

**Reviews are always good. :)**

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